Trust Issues
by My Ships
Summary: Trust is hard to gain and so easy to break but with Shawn and Juliet, it was easy to gain AND easy to break. *Abigail and Declan don't exist in this story*


_**This might not be the best story I've ever written, but this is the first chapter and it's the only one I've written so far. While writing it, I have definitely enjoyed it.**_

_**I've been in a Psych/Shules mood lately, even if it has to do with them fighting and "hating" each other, or so it seems. I don't really know why, though. Reading lots of Psych/Shules fanfiction has inspired me to write this one.**_

_**I'm not really sure how people will react to this story and I'm not really sure if my reviewers (hopefully I'll get some!) will have fun reading this story, but I really hope that y'all enjoy it.**_

_**Please don't forget to review! It'd mean a lot to me.**_

_**Now, here's the story! :)**_

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"Shawn, stop it!" Juliet begged, her eyes filled with tears. She was trying to stay strong because she didn't want Shawn to see her broken. Although, it was more for herself, to try to prove that she was still strong and not completely broken, rather than any other reason.

"He tried to kill you!" Shawn exclaimed, looking at Juliet for a brief second. Juliet saw the hurt and the anger in his eyes. And what was that other thing? Love? Lust? Hatred? "I can't just let this son of a bitch get away with that, Jules."

"You need to rationalize, Shawn," Juliet reasoned. "If you hurt this guy, you're just being selfish and rude."

"I'm trying to protect you," Shawn tried to explain, through huffs and puffs as he swung a punch at the murderer.

"No, you're not. You aren't protecting me, Shawn. You're doing this out of revenge," Juliet tried to get Shawn to understand her point. "And revenge is never the answer, even though it sometimes seems like it is," she mumbled.

"Okay, so maybe I'm not protecting you," he started, ducking below a punch that he was sure would hit him square in the face, but it didn't, "I wouldn't call it revenge either, though."

"Then what would you call it, Shawn?" she challenged with an icy tone. At this moment, it wasn't the smartest move to distract Shawn and keep this conversation going. Juliet was trying to talk him out of this whole dilemma, not push him forward. It seemed necessary, though, and she wasn't happy with him at the moment so making him feel bad yet giving him a chance felt like a good idea.

"I would call it... Avenging you. I'm like an avenger or something, y'know?" Shawn joked as he tried to block another hit.

"Shawn, if you don't stop it now, you won't be any better than him," Juliet managed to say, ignoring his Avengers comment. What she had just said stunned her almost as much as it had Shawn.

She took a huge gulp, trying to gather the courage to say the next thing. Her voice was hoarse, but Shawn still heard it. "You won't be any better than him, _in __**my**__ book_."

The fake psychic stared at his component. He realized that Juliet was right, as she almost always was, yet he lifted his arm to punch the criminal.

"You should listen to your girlfriend over there," the man said, sarcastically.

Shawn was about to go for the punch when he thought through the sentence that still stung him a few seconds later. Now, he actually understood the underlying message behind it.

He took a good, long look at Juliet who gave him a glare. He could see right through that glare, though, and what his eyes consumed frightened him.

He saw a vulnerable little girl. A pleading little girl. One who looked like she just saw her parents fight for her first time, actually seeing it happen, and seeing her father bruise her mother. He saw a girl who needed him more than ever and who was begging for him to just stop. To not put her through anymore pain than she was already going through.

Staring back into the man's eyes, Shawn started to lower his fist. "You know what? I will listen to her. Not because you told me to but because I have respect for women, and most of humanity. Besides, she always has words of wisdom. So, maybe, the next time this detective tells you to stop doing something, you stop it," he proposed, fighting his urge to punch the criminal in the face. "And she _isn't_ my girlfriend. But what she is or isn't to me is none of your business. _Never_ threaten her. _Never_ kill her. _Never_ even talk to her in a rude voice again. Because, I swear, I will beat the absolute crap out of you and you will end up in the hospital, or Hell; whichever one comes first."

Shawn walked away from the man and signaled for Lassiter to cuff the guy.

Although Shawn was angry at Lassiter for not interfering and for letting him make such a big, stupid mistake, one that hurt Juliet, he was more angry at himself.

He was angry because he couldn't contain his feelings. He was angry because he almost hurt a guy. He was angry because he was so pissed that he could have killed a guy. He was angry because he let his monster, or inner demon, come out. He was angry because he made a mistake. He was angry because the "man", if one could even consider him that, threatened and almost murdered Juliet. He was angry because he was angry at Lassiter. He was angry because he was angry at himself. But, most of all, he was angry because he scared and hurt Juliet. He made her feel vulnerable, to the point of pleading and begging and, pretty much, letting tears flow out of her eyes and onto her cheeks, leaving shiny stains.

He didn't mean to make her gulp. He didn't mean to make her sigh. He didn't mean to make her upset. He didn't mean to make her feel that way. All he wanted to do was protect and avenge her. If he had known that it would lead to her going through and feeling all of that and, possibly, breaking their friendship/partnership, he wouldn't have let his emotions get the best of him, at least not so easily.

It was so hard, to the point of feeling impossible, for him to not go after the guy. Juliet wasn't Shawn's, she never was, and he felt like she never would be, but there was something about her that he felt was a part of him. He felt like a part of him was with her at all times too, although he could never really be completely sure about that. This was a feeling that he could never just shake off, ever since they met each other in the diner.

He watched the head detective cuff the murderer and go through the whole spiel. He was still watching as they walked, or rather _stalked_, off to the car.

Shawn shook his head and tried to stay away from the thoughts flashing through his mind, but he knew that he had to do something.

He jogged after Juliet, who was shaking and sobbing by now, almost hyperventilating, while she was trying to walk toward Carlton and the criminal.

Shawn laid his hand gently on her shoulder and she just tried to ignore him; she tried to keep walking. She didn't want to lash out at him, but it felt kind of necessary. By walking, not stopping, and trying to get away from him... It hurt Shawn even more than if she were to just lash out at him and yell at him.

He then grabbed her arm and spun her around. "I'm sorry, Jules."

"Don't call me that," she said, attempting to squirm out of his grasp.

"Uh, o-okay, then..." Shawn replied, evidently upset. Juliet winced. "_Juliet_... I'm sorry. I just... I needed to protect and avenge you, though. Can't you see that?" he explained, his voice rising with each sentence.

"You're sorry? That's all you have to say for yourself?!" Juliet almost screamed, stopping the attempt to get away. Now she was attempting to steady her voice and wipe away her tears. Before Shawn could add anything in to try to let her loosen up on him, she started yelling again. "_Protecting_ me? _Avenging_ me? Seriously, Shawn? You think that almost killing a man is going to 'avenge' and 'protect' me?" Shawn sighed, looking down at his hand that was still on her arm. He let go of her, gingerly.

"If you wanted to avenge me, you'd give the police your statement and try to put the man in jail for everything he's done, to others and to me. You'd try to give some advice to me, and even Carlton, on how to stay cool and try to get the man and his lawyer to break; pointing out the faults in their theories and giving the jury the undeniable truth.

"And if you wanted to protect me, you would have held on to me and let Carlton seize the guy. You would've jump in front of the gun to take the bullet for me, even if it meant dying. You wouldn't have let the guy _touch_ me, grab me, harass me, threaten me, and almost shoot me.

"That's what you would've done if you actually cared enough about me to try to avenge and protect me. You wouldn't give in to your violent side and unleash a monster. But you don't care enough about me to do the right thing."

"He... He touched you?" Shawn replied in a voice barely above a whisper. Juliet just nodded, not able to say anything about that difficult subject to him. "I'm really sorry, Juliet. If I had known that that would happen, I would have tried even harder to protect you..."

Juliet pretended not to hear that last comment, but it really made her melt on the inside.

"I'm not saying that you had to do all, or any, of that! If you hadn't, which you didn't, I'd understand that you were trying to protect yourself and, maybe, that you thought I could handle and protect myself. But, instead, you went berserk on the guy by threatening him and almost hurting, if not going as far as killing, him," Juliet said harshly. She did let a little bit of concern slip into her voice when she quietly added, "He could sue you for assault; you know that right?"

She went back to what she was saying. "All of this just goes to prove that A, you didn't care about your safety and B, you thought that I was incapable of handling myself. So thanks a lot for that, Spencer," Juliet said, coolly, adding Shawn's last name, 'Spencer', to show him that she didn't have time for his shenanigans like Lassiter did.

Juliet started to walk to the head detective's car, but she turned around, stopping dead in her tracks, and said, quite loudly, "And don't even bother about coming by the station tomorrow. Or the next day. Or for the next few weeks. Months. Even years. Carlton and I will explain what happened between you and the criminal and it will be detailed. I'm also going to send a complaint about you, and the Psych agency, and I'm sure that Carlton will be more than happy to comply. Maybe you weren't meant to be a 'psychic' detective... **—** _consultant_ **—**... after all; at least not for the SBPD. Have a nice life, Shawn."

Shawn just stood there, stunned into silence. He hadn't known that Juliet had that rage within her.

He felt her wrath when he had ended up telling her about the fact that he wasn't an actual psychic.

Once he had explained the whole event, she had been super mad at him and she even threw a pillow at him.

She had spent the night on his couch that night (yes, she slept on the couch while he got his bed, because he didn't want to be a gentleman and lend her his bed while he slept on the couch). She then stormed out of his house and drove home, even though she was too tired to be driving after that exasperating case.

That wasn't as bad as this though situation though. Because, the day after she found out that he wasn't a real psychic, she came by the Psych office, during her lunch break, and handed him a pineapple, apologizing for freaking out on him like that. She started telling him how she was glad that he told her the truth and how she felt honored that she was one of the few people he had opened up to about it. He apologized to her too, profusely, and she forgave him, as he did to her, although she hadn't done anything that really needed forgiving **— **it just gave Juliet a feeling of contentment, knowing that he wasn't mad at her.

He was about to kiss her, and she might have kissed him back, if it weren't for the fact that Gus had just walked into the office, after picking up some food from the closest fast food place. They two broke apart, abruptly, even though their lips never even touched and their bodies weren't really touching either, and agreed to never speak of that awkward moment again. (Although Gus was Gus, which meant that he could be oblivious sometimes and, although he felt the tension in the air, he never thought much of the moment.)

This time though, he had a feeling that she wasn't going to bounce back so easily, as she had done the last time. It was going to take a lot to convince her to forgive him.

She wasn't going to come by the Psych office the next day and say what he wished she would say. "I now see your point of view; how you were trying to protect and avenge me. It is so sweet. I am so thankful, happy, and blessed. And, truth be told, it was actually really sexy and..." She'd breath heavily now and look at his eyes and then to his lips. "Bed now."

No, no, no. It wasn't going to happen like that.

No matter how much charm Shawn may have had on most girls, Juliet was no girl. She was a lady. She was independent enough and she knew how to say no, at least to him. Plus, it would be weird to try to work more of his charm on her than usual because more people would notice, she was a friend and partner to him, and she would get really irritated with him at a time such as this one.

Shawn Spencer would have to work harder than ever to win back her trust and it would probably call for more than just charm and devilish-handsome looks.

Why was she so important to him? Why couldn't he have her not trust him? He wasn't completely sure about the answer to either of those questions, or any other questions of that same nature, if he were to be completely honest with himself. He was a "psychic" detective, though. Sooner, or later, he was going to figure it out.

He was almost as determined to figure those questions out as he was to regain Juliet's trust.

As Shawn was walking to his car, he started thinking about how stressing this task would be.

As he opened his car door, he realized how worth it the task would be if everything worked out, as he had planned, or at least hoped (because Shawn Spencer never really planned anything through, not thoroughly at least).

As he sat down in the driver's seat, started the car, and started driving to his house, he thought of a quote he had once heard his dad say, although Henry didn't actually come up with it, "It takes years to build up trust, and only seconds to destroy it."

He repeated it over and over again in his head that car ride home; his thoughts never completely leaving Juliet.

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**_If you're reading this message, I'm assuming that you finished reading this story. If you did, thank you for reading it and I really hope that you enjoyed it! If you didn't like it, I'm sorry and I hope that you weren't too bored of it!_**

**_And maybe, just maybe, you could review this story? ;) Please don't send me hate about it, though. Love and constructive criticism are most definitely welcome! (If I get a couple of reviews, finding out that people actually enjoy this story _****—**** or if the story gets lots of views ****— I will write another chapter for this.)**


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